Chain grate



Oct. 6,1925. 5 1,555,834

A. a. c02

GHAI?! .GRATE Filed Nov. s. 1925 Patented Oct. 6, 1925.

UNITED STATES 1,555,834 PATENT OFFICE.

ANDREW B. COX, OF BAYONNE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE BABC OCK & WILCOX COMIANY, OF BAYONNE, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

CHAIN GRATE.

Application filed November 3, 1923. Serial No. 672,498.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW B. Cox, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bayonne, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Chain Grates, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to links for chain-grate stokers and will be best understood from the following description and the annexed drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a side viewand Fig. 2 an end View of an illustrative form of link embodying my invention; Fig. 8 is a side view and Fig. 4 an end view of another form of link enibodying my invention, and Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a part of a chain grate to which my invention is applied.

Like reference characters indicate like parts in the several views.

In the form of grate illustrated in Fig. 5, which is, in general, of a well-known type, the grate is made up of links connected by pins or rods 6, the chain thus formed being endless and supported by and carried on sprockets 7 mounted on shafts 8, the shaft shown in Fig. 5 being the driving shaft by which the grate is moved. The longitudinal runs of the grate may be supported in any desired manner and air may be supplied between these runs, as desired, but, since these are no part of my invention, further description thereof will be unnecessary.

The compound link 10 illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 is made up of two similar plates 10 and 10 which may be formed by casting or forging in any of the well known ways, these plates being placed side by side and fastened together by a bolt 13. At either end of each plate is a pin or rod slot adapted to engage respectively with ad j acent rods 6 in the chain, the inner edges of these slots preferably being round to conform to the diameter of the rod 6.

In Fig. 1, the rod slot or recess at the right-hand endof plate 10 is formed by an opening extending upwardly from the bottom of the plate with Walls 14, 15 and 16, the walls 14 and 16 being substantially perpendicular to the top of the links. At the left-hand end of plate 10, in Fig. 1, the rod recess has an angular relation with the top of the link andinthe specific form illustrated, has a perpendicular wall 17 and horizontal walls 18 and 19 and a curved portion 20, the vertical wall 17 merging into the horizontal wall 18 by the curve 20. The slot formed by the walls l720 is thus provided with a portion 21 defined bythe wall 19 which is beneath the circular portion 20.

The compound link 10 illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 is made up of two of such plates, designated as 10 and 10", each with the slots or recesses just described, such plates being placed side byside but with the ends reversed in relation to each other, so that the curved portion of each slot is in alignment with the corresponding curved portion of a slot in the other plate. As will be seen by an inspection of Fig. 1, this will form two closed pin or rod openings, the projecting portion 21 of plate 10 extending across the perpendicular portion of the adjacent slot in the plate 10" and vice versa, so that each of the perpendicular slots at each end of the compound link thus formed is closed.

It will be noted that with the construction of the rod recesses described, either of the plates 10, 10 when positioned on the rods of a chain grate may, if free from its adjacent plate forming the compound link, be turned about the grate rod extending through the recess forming an angle with the top of the link, since the Walls 14, 16 of the other recess are substantially perpendicular to the top of the link. This turning would necessitate theoretically a slight curvature or arcing of the walls 14, 16, but in practice the normal clearance is suflicient for this purposeand the grate rods Will also yield sufliciently so that no particular care in forming the walls 14, 16 is necessary.

On the other hand, it will be obvious by an inspection of Fig. 1 that the plate 10, for instance, could not be turned around its right-hand rod recess because of the lip 21 projecting beneath the other rod with which the plate engages.

Since the foregoing conditions apply also to theplate 10", but in a reverse way, it is obvious that when the bolt 13 fastens the plates 10, 10 together, the compound link will be fixedly connected to the grate rods, but that when bolt 13 is removed, the plates 10, 10 may be removed from the rods by swinging them respectively around the lefthand end and the right-hand end of Fig. 1

until the walls 14, 16 are disengaged from the grate rod and then sliding the plate 1011- I gitudinally along the curve 20' and the wall 17 until the projection 21 is free from the second pin rod.. It will also be obvious that a new link may be substituted for the link removed by reversing the motion of the two plates.

Such removal and replacement of links may be made most readily when the link to be removed occupies an angular relation to the longitudinal runs of the grate, as, for instance, when the link is passing around the sprocket 7 It will be noted that at this time, access may be had to the bolt 13 between-the ends of a pair of adjacent links and the link plates then removed and replaced, as desired.

The arrangement shown in Figs. 3 and 4 is similar to that just described so far as the formation of the slots is concerned, these figures, however, showing the arrangement when a compound link is also to be used as the driven member of the chain with which the teeth of the sprocket 7 engage. In this arrangement the plate 22 is made as wide as necessary for the tooth of the sprocket and the plate 23 is fastened to it by the bolt 24 in a manner similar to that in which the plates 10 and 10 are fastened by the bolt 13.

The vertical and angular slots are formed in the plates 22 and 28 in a manner similar to that just described for the slots in the plates 10 and 10 and need not be repeated.

It will be noted, however, that the recess 25 in the plate 22 for the sprocket tooth merges with the slot for the grate rod 6 at the left-hand end of Fig. 3, while, on the other hand, the right-hand wall of the sprocket tooth recess extends to the bottom of the plate 22. For this reason, the plates 22 and 23 are preferably positioned in the grate, so that the right-hand wall of the recess 25 will be the one with which the driving side of the sprocket tooth contacts.

It will be understood that the arrangements described are merely illustrative and that the embodiment of my invention may be widely varied.

It will also be understood that the plates forming the compound link may be of any suitable construction in accordance with the grate in which they are used and that while preferably. for manufacturing purposes, the two plates of the compound link are pre cisely the same, this is not essential: It will also be understood that while prefer ably I arrange the slo s as illustrated, this ar rangement may be widely varied so long as each plate may be removed only by first rotating it around one of its link rods. It will. also be noted that while apparently the slot in plate 10' at the left-hand end of Fig. 1 is'made up of curves, it is essentially the same as if the slot were straight and extending at an angle to the top of the link. I prefer the curved inclined arrangement illustrated, however, because the portion 21 is thereby given greater strength than would be the case if the slot had straight inclined walls.

It will also be understood that while I have illustrated my link in connection with a chain grate using a well-known arrangement of rods for connecting the links, that the novel link may be used in any other form of chain, such, for instance, as one in which the links would be connected by pins instead of rods, and it is to be understood that in the appended claims the term rod recess and the like is to include pin recess and the like.

It will be noted that in the construction which I have described any link may be detached from the chain and replaced with out disturbing any of the other links in the chain and that each compound link is nevertheless securely attached to the chain until the connecting bolt 13 is removed.

I claim:

1. In a chain grate, a link comprising a pair of plates, each having a chain rod recess at either end thereof extending inwardly from the bottom of the plate and at least as wide as the diameter of the chain rod, the first of said recesses in each plate extending substantially perpendicular'ly to the top of the link and the second of said recesses extending at an angle to the top of the link and said plates being located side by side with their tops in alignment and with the inner edges of the first recess of one plate in alignment with the inner edges of the second recess of the other plate, and means to fasten the plates to gether detachably.

2. In a chain grate, a link comprising a pair of plates, each having a chain rod recess at either end thereof extending inwardly from the bottom of the plate and at least as wide as the diameter of the chain rod, the first-of said recesses in each plate extending substantially perpendicularly to the top of the link and the second of said recesses extending at an angle to the top of the link and said plates being located side by side with their tops in alignment and with the inner edges of the first recess of one plate in alignment with the inner edges of the second recess of the other plate, and means to fasten the'plates together detachably comprising a bolt extending through the plates between the rod recesses.

8. In a chain grate, a link comprising a pair of plates, each having a chain rod recess at either end thereof extending inwardly from the bottom of the plate and at least as wide as the diameter of the chain rod, the first of said recesses in each plate extending substantially perpendicularly to the top of the link and the second of said recesses extending from the bottom of the plate substantially perpendicularly toward the top of the link and then substantially parallel to the top of the link and said plates being located side by side with their tops in alignment and with the inner edges of the first recess of one plate in alignment with the inner edges of the second recess of the other plate, and means to fasten the plates together detachably.

4. In a chain grate, a link comprising a pair of plates, each having a chain rod recess at either end thereof extending in wardly from the bottom of the plate and at least as wide as the diameter of the chain rod, the first of said recesses in each plate extending substantially perpendicularly to the top of the link and the second of said recesses extending at an angle to the top of the link and said plates being located side by side with their tops in alignment and with the inner edges of the first recess of one plate in alignment with the inner edges of the second recess of the other plate, and means to fasten the plates together detachably, one of said plates having a sprocket tooth recess located between said rod recesses.

5. In a chain grate, a link comprising a pair of plates, each having a chain rod recess at either end thereof extending inwardly from the bottom of the plate and at least as wide as the diameter of the chain rod, the first of said recesses in each plate extending substantially perpendicularly to the top of the link and the second of said recesses extending from the bottom of the plate substantially perpendicularly toward the top of the link and then substantially parallel to the top of the link and said plates being located side by side with their tops in alignment and with the inner edges of the first recess of one plate in alignment with the inner edges of the second recess of the other plate, and means to fasten the plates together detachably, one of said plates having a sprocket tooth recess located between said pin recesses.

6. In a chain grate having link rods, a compound link comprising a pair of plates detachably fastened together, each plate having a link rod recess at either end and extending to the bottom of the link, the first of said recesses being shaped to permit its detachment from its rod when the plate is rotated about the center of the other link rod, and the second of said recesses being shaped to prevent its detachment from its rod when the plate is rotated about the center of the other link rod, and said plates being positioned with the first recess of one plate on thesame link rod as the second recess of the other plate.

7. In a chain grate having link rods, a

compound link comprising a pair of plates detachably fastened together, each plate having a link rod recess at either end and extending to the bottom of the link, the first of said recesses being shaped to permit its detachment from its rod when the plate is rotated about the center of the other link rod, and the second of said recesses being shaped to prevent its detachment from its rod when the plate is rotated about the center of the other link rod, and said plates being positioned with the first recess of one plate on the same link rod as the second recess of the other plate, and one of said plates having a sprocket tooth recess between said rod recesses.

ANDREW B. COX. 

